Fully.
Totally.
It’s intoxicating. I never want it to stop. My lips part against his, and he gasps my name. I wrap my hand around his back, pressing him closer, and yet I want him closer still.
I want everything.
Suddenly, his hands are on my shoulders and he gently moves me back, away from him. “Libby…”
The way he says my name is just as heady as it was a moment before, even with several inches between us now.
“It’s fine,” I assure him. “Istarted it.Ikissed you.” That’s been part of our unspoken bargain—or maybe part ofmyunspoken bargain with myself. If I’m the one initiating physical contact between us, it’s okay.
“Libby,” he says again, so soft that I almost reach for him. “I want it all.” He steps back to me, not touching me, but I feel his presence in a potent way as though I’m in his arms. “And I don’t want this,” he whispers, motioning between us, “until you’re ready to be all in with me.”
The heat that’s been rising in my body spreads up my neck and to my face. I want to be all in with him. I swallow. Before I can say anything, he puts his hands on my waist and pulls me into a tender hug. I cling to him.
When he pulls away, he smiles down at me. “I really liked that,” he says quietly. The tender way this giant man treats me makes me long to throw myself back into his arms. “Absolutely worth waiting until you’re ready,” he says. He kisses the top of my head. The feel of his lips sends a shiver through me and a reminder of the feel of his lips on my lips. “I’ll call you when I land in Houston.”
He steps away, moving to pick up his duffel bag and leave the room. He pauses at the door. “I love you, Libby Bennet. I love you enough to wantusforever, not just for right now.”
I press a hand to my lips. The words are bubbling up out of me, words that might be true.I love you too. But I can’t say them. Not until I’m sure. I nod, and he leaves.
My therapist assured me, long ago, that the day would come when I would fall in love, when I wouldn’t think so much about the way a man touched me and what his motives were every time I kissed him. Someday I would trust someone and I wouldn’t flinch away.
When I was kissing Jordan, I didn’t think once about what Grayson did to me. I could only think about how I felt for Jordan.
How much I love Jordan. It’s coursing through me right now.
Is it enough?
CHAPTER 36
JORDAN
The kiss stays with me the entire flight. Sitting on the Bennets’ private jet with nothing else to distract me, I find it hard to think of anything else but the way Libby held me, the sexy way she led in that kiss, the softness of her lips, the feel of her hair in my fingers, the way I almost lost myself in it completely.
The way I wanted so much more.
A part of me wanted to give in, even just for the moment. To believe that Libby is going to fully trust me eventually, and for now, this is enough.
But I have to remind myself that what I wantnowis not worth sacrificing forever.
I get a text from Mitchell halfway through the flight.
Mitchell
I’m waiting and time’s running out. We letting this play out?
I bet Bryce is getting super antsy. I got in contact with Mitchell weeks ago, and he made the claim well before that. If Bryce is out of money and back in Texas, he knows the walls are closing in. Will he really send the stuff he has on Baylee to the FBI if we don’t pay up? He needs the money. Turning Baylee ingets him nothing. Maybe if I tip him further into desperate territory, he’ll make a mistake.
Jordan
I need more time. Bryce cleaned me out, and my new wife might be plenty flush, but getting $500K without her knowing isn’t easy.
Mitchell
Tomorrow morning or I tell your wife.
